84 CASCADE HIDDEN BY PLANTS. 



to convey an adequate idea of the combined richness 

 beauty and elegance, the dense shade and fresh 

 moist sparkling verdure of these secluded and 

 romantic valleys. In the depth of this ravine ran a 

 brook, which we could hear leaping from ledge to 

 ledge, but could not see for the overhanging foliage, 

 and when, near the bottom of the valley, we crossed 

 it by a wooden bridge, its waters were still hidden 

 from us, by what looked like a bank of vegetation 

 (bushes made solid by creepers) arching over it on 

 either hand. Close to this bridge, one side of the 

 ravine rose up in a perfect precipice, down which 

 fell a cascade that from the sound must have been 

 of considerable size, a yard in breadth, I should 

 think, at least. But though it fell within three yards 

 of me, and joined the brook beneath the bridge, 

 not a drop of it could I see, for the whole face of 

 the steep hill, besides being covered with lofty trees 

 wherever they could find a footing, was so densely 

 crowded with undergrowth, ferns of all descriptions, 

 great broad-leafed plants of several varieties, and 

 such a mantle of creepers, as to hide from the sight 

 everything beneath it, and form a dense and imper- 

 vious screen over rock and waterfall. Some of the 

 spray actually wetted me as it dropped from the plants 

 above, and I took some pains to try and find an 

 opening, bat not a peep could I get at the cascade. 

 While, however, the vegetable world is displayed 

 with such profusion, there is rather a remarkable 

 absence of animal life in these mountains. We did 



